Public opinion on Osama bin Laden

Supporting terror

THE announcement at the weekend that American special forces had killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan was greeted with jubilation in America, and with more restraint elsewhere. But while he was America's most wanted man and the most recognisable Islamist terrorist in the world, in reality Mr bin Laden's influence had been declining in many Muslim countries. In polling by the Pew Research Center just before he was killed, a third of Palestinian respondents said they had confidence that the al-Qaeda leader was "doing the right thing in world affairs". That compares with over 70% when the question was first asked in 2003. Support for Mr bin Laden also fell in most of the other countries canvassed. (A 2011 figure is not yet available for Pakistan as the fieldwork is still in progress.) This may reflect a genuine change in attitudes after al-Qaeda's high-profile attacks in places such as Bali and Jordan, as well as its violence in Iraq. But it could also reflect Mr bin Laden's lower profile in recent years.

The reasons for rapid burial at sea are two fold. One is the traditional Muslim requirement that the body be buried within 24 hours of death - that's the Public Relations reason. The second reason (which I feel is the more likely reason) is that wherever the body ends up would become a target, and they especially didn't want arguments over where to bury him, for any land burial site would be contentious and a possible site of either attack (for attempted recovery of the body), vandalism, or even worship (as a radical few would consider him a martyr).

As for "independent autopsy" - let's be honest. The people who will doubt this announcement doubt the government in general. An "independent autopsy" carried out by a private firm would be accused by conspiracy theorists of having been bribed by the U.S. government - likewise, an autopsy carried out by the Swiss or other neutral government would be accused of succumbing to U.S. diplomatic and economic pressure. They could have put Osama's body in a transparent plastic pod, and left it in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington D.C. to serve as a tourist attraction, and some people would still argue it was just a body double.

*In the end,* your belief in this being the end of Bin Laden has to come from 3 areas:
1. A little trust in the American government - not in the government's honesty, but in the fact that in wake of the Weapons of Mass Destruction DISASTER during Bush's term, Obama would be TERRIFIED of getting an announcement of Bin Laden's death wrong.
2. The fact that jihadist websites have been reportedly filled with people vowing revenge, not going, "Ha-Ha, he's still alive!"
3. The fact that the media has been given a tape by Al-Qaeda sources that was reportedly supposed to be released only upon Osama bin Laden's death.
3. The fact that now, Osama bin Laden has a HUGE incentive to release a tape confirming him being alive, which would be a huge moral boost to his followers and an embarrassment to his adversaries. Finding an exact twin for bin Laden is going to be tough given how carefully scrutinized any followup video would be.

This admittedly off-topic, but am I the only one who has a hard time distinguishing the various similar pastel colors the Economist tends to use on these sorts of chart? What's wrong with including some red, yellow, white, and green instead of a bunch of shades of bluish gray-green?

I understand the interest this newspaper shows in providing elegant graphics but, you know, there is much more color in the world besides grays and blues. Please do pick a color palette where the individual lines can be correlated to their references. It is not that I care particularly about this particular graph, I've been annoyed by this for quite some time, and I don't even have any sort of visual impairment, it's just that now I felt like saying something.

What surprises me most here is that the "nation" which loved bin Laden more than all others was ultimately Nigeria. Nigeria! I can only assume bin Laden's Nigerian fan base was almost exclusively located in the north. I would therefore love to see this graph showing terror support in N. Nigeria versus S. Nigeria and N. Sudan versus S. Sudan.

I imagine the results would clearly suggest that America should welcome a S. Nigerian secession just like S. Sudan's.

Sounds good, but did they really kill Osama Bin Laden? DNA samples, taken here, there, then, or anywhere, at anytime, could fit any member of the Bin Laden family, a family well established in the Middle East.

Such a rush, bullshit, bullshit, bullshit, and a body quickly fed to the sharks; safe from any independent forensic examination.

It needs only a TV announcement from an Arabic speaker in a beard that 'the reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated' to ignite another round of this tedious propaganda conflict.

I am quite prepared to believe that the US military did launch an attack upon a private home in a foreign country; whether this was in any way more effective than their usual blunders remains to be proved.

Why the sea burial? Why the lack of an independent autopsy? Why the instant, unsupported acceptance?

Yesterday I watched (rather accidentally) an interview with Carmen Bin Laden, a sister-in-law of OBL. She could not apologize enough, expiate enough, or be contrite enough about OBL's actions. Yet what I found troubling was that she said she "did not know anyone in Saudi society who did not think Osama was a good Muslim".

Uhm... what's wrong with this picture? If what she said is true, it allows for two, ONLY two possibilities:

A. That the Saudis have got Islam all wrong,

or

B. That Islam IS in fact a cult of violence.

I sure would like to believe the former, not the latter. Good grief... in this case, even Sarah Palin (!) scores a point with her complaint that peaceful Muslims have failed to adequately "refudiate" (sic) terrorists acting in the name of radical Islam.

I don't buy the "yes, but" lame argumentation:

--Jack had a violent temperament, which flared up whenever he drank. Coming back from the bar on Saturday nights, he would often beat his wife; sometimes he even raped her in his raging stupor. BUT, other than that, he was a good Christian, and always went to church next Sunday morning.

Sorry, folks, that just won't fly. So either OBL was, or was not a good Muslim. If he was *not*, there's room for rapprochement; if he *was*, we've got a biiiiiiiiiiig problem, world-wide.

to the doubters..
unless he releases a new rap album within the next year together with Tupac, he's dead.
Nothing would disprove the Americans better, and rally his supporters more, than Bin Laden's voice reappearing , chanting "death to America".

Also, dumping his body at sea may be Navy-speak for "we kept his real body, and its in one of our submarines...try to guess which one".

the people who still love OBL are highly impressionable, globally narrow-minded, ignorant idiots, who don't have real jobs, or proper outlets for all their spare time, and were seduced by the camp-like bonding, and vigorous obstacle training regimes of Al-Quaeda videos. This is not a rascist statement, since all these OBL lovers are not ethnically related, and Islam is not a race. Find these people hobbies to occupy their spare time

This marks an important milestone for the US effort to be sure, but hardly an end to terrorism. Bin Laden was the 17th of 54 children in his immediate family alone. A dozen new Bin Ladens are probably growing out their beards as we speak. Something tells me this war cannot be won with bullets...

If he isn't dead don't you think evidence to the contrary would be forthcoming? Do you think the US raid, which essentially amounts to an invasion, was done as a publicity stunt? I agree, I would like to see a photo, but I seriously doubt this is all a cover.

If we were going to fake it why not say we found in a cave in Afghanistan where was more or less expected to be?

@Philip OCarroll it's not fair to criticize Pakistan (as a nation) about Bin Laden. He was unpopular in Pakistan.

For a country like Pakistan, you have to distinguish between the opinions of the general population (which is what the graph shows), and the actions of the government (which is what is meant when someone criticizes "Pakistan"). The government of Pakistan, or at least the ISI, may be deserving a lots of blame for supporting and/or protecting bin Laden, even though he is not popular with the people in general (who are subject to being killed by his followers).

There is so much scepticism if Usama bin Laden was really killed during the raid at his alleged hideout at Abbotabad in Pakistan. True or not there is one thing for sure. Soon, some smart old guy with long white beard will reveal a grave, in Abbotabad or somewhere in Wazirstan, claiming that Usama is buried in it and that he died of bad health in 2005 or so. In time this story will spread and thousands of people will go for PILGRIMAGE to his shrine. Who will dare to exhume the body for confirmation!!!!!!!. Neither the Pakistani nor the US government will have the stomach to do so. In time and in the absence of concrete proof from the US authorities scepticism with grow even in the west.